Episode 10
‘Dante Halson’.
The High Priestess’s apprentice and successor.
In The Second Empress, he was a supporting character. A mysterious blond character stands by the High Priestess’ side.
When the conflict between the High Priestess and the imperial family intensifies, Dante mysteriously disappears. He dodges Leto’s sword.
In the original story, Dante has no contact with Empress livia. He is caught looking at a botanical book.
He is intrigued by the book.
“You’re looking at an interesting book, aren’t you?”
“I’m preparing for the return tea party. I was thinking of planting so new plants in the garden.”
“Plants for a tea party… How delicate of you.”
He smiled. It was an inscrutable smile. One that made
cringe.
“Yes. Now, if you’ll excuse , I’m going to take a look at the book.”
I flipped back through the pages as if nothing had happened. Dante hovered around .
“…….”
“…….”
“Is there anything else you need to see?”
“I’m a priest, and I’m thrilled to finally see the Empress I’ve only heard rumors of, and she’s been resurrected by the grace of the Goddess.”
His tone was flattering but also secretly rude. I wonder if he trusts the High Priest.
He’s not soone I want to deal with for long. I cut him off and said,.
“Whatever the reason, I’m uncomfortable, so you’ll have to leave, or I’ll co back.”
I closed the book. Dante’s tail twitched in confusion.
“What do you an? Of course, I’ll leave you alone. I was rude. Please forgive .”
“…….”
“I ca to the Empress to deliver this.”
He pulled sothing out of the inside pocket of his priestly robes. It was a white letter envelope with a gold seal.
“Forgive
for cutting to the chase in my eagerness to speak with Your Majesty. This is a letter from my ntor, the High Priest.”
“A letter from the High Priest?
“Is it addressed to ?”
“To be precise, ‘only’ to Her Majesty the Empress.”
So he wants
to keep it a secret from Leto.
I took the letter and held it in my arms. I was eager to read the contents. But it would be best not to read it in front of Dante.
“Well, I’ll see you again, Empress.”
Dante smiled and bowed. I returned the gesture with a single nod of my head. He turned and disappeared from the study. A few seconds later, Fahram ca around the corner.
“I brought you paper and a pen. Unfortunately, my pen ran out of ink, so it took
a while.”
“Sir Fahram, did you see anyone on your way here?”
“No, I didn’t see anyone, but who was there?”
“…No. Let
finish my journal.”
I reopened the closed book. I had to find Indigo first.
After a mont, I closed the book with disappointnt. There was no Indigo anywhere in the book.
“Your Majesty, do you not have the plant you are looking for?”
Fahram asked, trying to be cheerful. The sight of his rash face made
feel unnecessarily upset.
Still, it was too soon to be discouraged.
“Sir Fahram. You said this book is not complete. Do you think you can identify any plants that are not in it?”
“That… I’ll see what I can do.”
Fahram smiled. As if to tell
not to worry too much. I put my hand lightly on his shoulder.
“Okay, let’s call it a day.”
* * *
By the ti I got back to my office, the sun had set. I sat down and opened the letter from the High Priest.
The letter was written in very nice handwriting.
[Dear Empress, As the head of the Great Hall, I ask for a private audience with Your Majesty; please keep it secret from the Emperor; I will wait for you in the Great Hall.
In the p.s., he wrote the date he wished to et. Despite his polite deanor, I could sense his self-righteousness.
“Dokdara…….”
It was coming; I knew you’d call
soday.
He’s not going to let the resurrected emperor sit idly by in the Great Hall. He’s going to use her sohow.
Ding.
At the knock on the door, I quickly put the letter back in the drawer. Mada marais entered the throne room.
“Your Majesty, dinner is ready.”
“Ah, what can I do, Mada? I have so much work to do today.”
I gestured to the piles of papers on my desk. Mrs. Marais gave
a worried look.
“Your Majesty. You have to eat, no matter what.”
“Then I’ll eat when I’m done.”
“Just make sure you eat on ti, or you’ll make yourself sick.”
I’ve been skipping dinner for days. Tonight, Mada Marais seed unwilling to back down.
“Co on, Your Majesty.”
“Just give
one more day, will you?”
“It’s no laughing matter; now co with
to the dining room.”
Mada marais patted
gently on the back. We are like mother and daughter. I couldn’t help but laugh.
It was then.
“What’s all the fuss about?”
Leto must have been passing through the hallway. He stepped through the half-open door.
“What’s going on, Mada marais?”
“Well… the Empress keeps skipping als.”
It was a half-admishing tone. Not that Leto would care about such things.
But she was wrong.
“Aha. Really?”
Leto glanced at the stack of papers on his desk, then at Mada marais.
“Since the Empress is busy, I think we can bring the al here.”
“Here?”
Mada marais asked in surprise. Leto nodded wordlessly.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Mrs. marais bowed and left the office. Leto approached my desk and shuffled through his papers.
“It looks like you didn’t get any work done today.”
“I was just about to start. I had an appointnt until a little while ago.”
“I see.”
He slamd down the papers he was looking at. He turned to the door and called out.
“Ewarton!”
Ewarton hurried in at the call.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Take these papers to my office.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ewarton gathered up the papers and hugged them. I turned to Leto.
“Your Majesty, I can do this. It will take
so ti.”
“I didn’t ask you to do it while starving.”
He cut
off.
“But.”
If I don’t do it, you’ll have to do it all.
“But?”
“…No.”
I relented. After all, you were the one holding the lifeline. I had to listen to him.
It all happened in one fell swoop.
The papers disappeared, a huge table was brought in, and all sorts of delicacies were placed on it.
“You can sit there.”
Leto sat down in a chair and gestured across, but there was only one set of dishes.
“And His Majesty?”
“He’s not a fool to be feeding himself at this hour.”
That’s it. No words. I smiled, half-heartedly, and asked.
“Thank you for your concern. But I’m quite capable of eating on my own.”
“Is this a celebration in my palace?”
He ant he wouldn’t leave. I didn’t understand. Why would anyone want to watch soone else eat? He had enough on his plate.
Eventually, I picked up my fork in front of him. I thought he had no appetite, but it went in. It tasted good, and he must have been hungry.
After, I was sowhat full. Leto asked .
“fahram went looking for you today, didn’t he?”
I guess I’m still being debriefed on my activities, but that’s okay. I hadn’t done anything to get caught.
“Yes, sir. We were looking through a plant book together, trying to find an ingredient for a dicine.”
“So, did you find it?”
“No.”
“I see.”
What a serious response! I thought he’d be disappointed or laugh at . I felt unnecessarily embarrassed, so I added.
“I suppose we’ll have to find another way. I’ve instructed Sir Fahram to look into it, but if that doesn’t work, I may have to go into the forest to find the plant myself.”
Leto set his jaw and stared at . More than a little incredulously.
“What’s the rush?”
“What?”
“Like a man whose life depends on it.”
Because my life isn’t on the line; it’s on my limbs, and who knows what you’ll beco when I’m useless?
Leto saw my expression and smirked.
“I see you still think I can kill you.”
“I wouldn’t say so.”
“I’m tired of changing people’s minds, and I’d like to change yours.”
In any case, it ant I wasn’t going to kill him now, and that was enough to make
feel better.
By the way, there’s sothing I need to tell you.
“The High Priestess sent
a letter.”
“The High Priestess?”
He frowned openly.
“Yes. He wants to et with
at the temple without Your Majesty’s knowledge.”
“That’s nasty. You must go to the Empress of the Empire.”
“But if I don’t go, I’ll arouse unnecessary suspicion, and it wouldn’t make sense for a resurrected Empress to stay away from the temple.”
“Go if you wish.”
I was surprised. She was so willing to let
go.
“But only if you’re sure you won’t be used by him.”
“Is that a condition?”
“Sort of. If you can’t, I’ll keep you from contacting the High Priestess.”
Leto might be able to stop him this one ti, but in the future? The High Priest would keep trying to make contact, and I didn’t want to be the one to do it.
“I’ll go; I won’t be so easily taken advantage of.”
“Good. Then make sure you take your knight with you and co back and find
as soon as you can.”
“Thank you for your permission.”
“Strange, by the way. If you were thinking of accepting the High Priest’s offer, why bother telling ?”
“It is that His Majesty and I-”
“And I?”
“You’re married.
I was going to say. It’s self-evident by now, but then I rembered what happened a few days ago.
When he called
‘wife’. It felt like he was coming on to .
So I said sothing like this.
“We’re on the sa side; we’re colleagues.”
For a mont, his expression hardened slightly. He drumd his fingertips on the table.
“…Right, coworker.”
That’s how the al ended, anyway. As I wiped my mouth with my napkin, Leto said.
“You’re eating more evenly than you look.”
“I’ve never been in a position to cover my food.”
“You don’t dislike anything?”
“Even if I don’t like sothing, I just have to eat it.”
I’m from an orphanage. And I grew up pretty fast. I don’t think I’ve ever been a food snob.
But he’s quiet, all of a sudden.
I glanced at him, pretending to take a drink of water, and his eyes turned icy cold.
“Why… would you do that?”
“Is that how he treated you?”
“What? Him?”
“I didn’t realize you were so blind to n. I’m disappointed.”
Let
say sothing unintelligible again. What could he be misunderstanding? This ti, I didn’t want to let it go.
“I’ll take care of my man-eye, but who the hell is ‘him’?”
“He’s the one you’ve been looking for so desperately in your sleep, so many tis.”
“So who the hell is he?”
“Statin. He had a weird na.”
“Statin?
It’s a cholesterol-lowering drug. A reductase was isolated from a blue mold.
I wonder why that popped out of Leto’s mouth.
“… Co to think of it, I had a dream about the lab the other night. I dread I was making a drug that would kill .
Was that……?
“Ah, ahahaha!”
I burst out laughing.
I feel like I’m being massively misunderstood.
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